Karen's Sleepover

Baby-Sitters Little Sister #9

by Ann M. Martin, Christine Almeda (Illustrator)

It's fun to be a Baby-sitters Little Sister! Karen's having her first sleepover ever! She and her friends are going to tell spooky stories, try on makeup, and raid the refrigerator. But then Karen and Nancy get into a big fight. Karen doesn't want Nancy to come to her party. A new girl comes instead, and she is no fun! What will Karen do now?

Genres: Childrens, Fiction, Middle Grade, Contemporary, Young Adult, Friendship, Juvenile

112 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1990

About the author

Ann Matthews Martin was born on August 12, 1955. She grew up in Princeton, New Jersey, with her parents and her younger sister, Jane. After graduating from Smith College, Ann became a teacher and then an editor of children's books. She's now a full-time writer.

Ann gets the ideas for her books from many different places. Some are based on personal experiences, while others are based on childhood memories and feelings. Many are written about contemporary problems or events. All of Ann's characters, even the members of the Baby-sitters Club, are made up. But many of her characters are based on real people. Sometimes Ann names her characters after people she knows, and other times she simply chooses names that she likes.

Ann has always enjoyed writing. Even before she was old enough to write, she would dictate stories to her mother to write down for her. Some of her favorite authors at that time were Lewis Carroll, P. L. Travers, Hugh Lofting, Astrid Lindgren, and Roald Dahl. They inspired her to become a writer herself.

Since ending the BSC series in 2000, Ann’s writing has concentrated on single novels, many of which are set in the 1960s.

After living in New York City for many years, Ann moved to the Hudson Valley in upstate New York where she now lives with her dog, Sadie, and her cats, Gussie, Willy and Woody. Her hobbies are reading, sewing, and needlework. Her favorite thing to do is to make clothes for children.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/annmma...

Reviews

[Chloe (Always Booked) · Rating 3 out of 5]

The kids were terrible in this book! There is a girl named Pamela who is new in school and acts a little holier than thou. Karen has a sleepover with all of the girls in the class, including Pamela, and all they do is talk about how much they don't like her. Karen and Nancy get in an argument and thats resolved and her friendship with Nancy and Hannie is secured, but they still are JERKS to Pamela in the end and I hated it. I had to have a conversation with my daughter about this because she was villianizing her too and she clearly was just uncomfortable and guarded. I wish there would've been more discussion around people not always being what they seem.

[Lindsay · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this book, we're introduced to Pamela Harding, middle-class suburbia's biggest snotface. I like to think that eventually she grew up and realized what a hilariously colossal bitch she was to everyone.

[Sally · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nancy can't eat bacon! My first real literary run in with anyone Jewish.

[Jessica Woodring · Rating 3 out of 5]

Loved that drama…Yeesh, Pamela?! But had to take off stars for Ricky being a “gigundo” creep.

[Jackie Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

What young girl did not love the Baby-Sitters Club and Karen, the Baby-Sitters Little Sister?

[christina · Rating 3 out of 5]

read for S.S.R. time in 5th grade, I was a baby sitter's club fiend!

[Nicole · Rating 5 out of 5]

Seven year old Karen hosts her first sleepover at her fathers house but gets into a fight with one of her friends (spoiler, it's Nancy) over invitations. New girl, Pamela enters the classroom and Karen asks her to come because she invited all the other girls. Pamela proceeds to resist everything about the sleepover and Karen, calling her a baby several times. She won't sleep on the floor so she gets Karen's bed, she doesn't eat pizza so Kristy makes her a P&B sandwich, and she thinks the Wizard of Oz is a lame choice for scary movie night. The sleepover wraps up with a power outage, midnight refrigerator raid, and a backyard breakfast picnic filled with pancakes and bacon. As each kid gets picked up by their parent, Karen decides she does not want to be friends with Pamela but doesnt have to tell her that in front of everyone. She makes a written pact with her two remaining BFFs after deciding against being blood sisters. The next day, Pamela has made some new admirers from the sleepover with her fashion sense (and money). Karen and the girls read their pact. Karen wants to add in that they vow to never be friends with Pamela but they tell her it's not necessary. That's the end.

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was the first of the 2020s Little Sister reprints that I think I've read, because even though some of the ebooks of the series that I've borrowed have had the cute new cartoon covers, the interior illustrations are just as I remember, the super-detailed head and shoulders and the less-detailed, sketchy backgrounds. So it was a little jarring (for lack of a better word) to see these adorable cartoons throughout the book. I see how kids nowadays would like it better, but it didn't tickle the old nostalgia like the old illustrations. Also, my mind was blown by the minor editing of Emily Michelle's backstory. They gave her a Vietnamese name (Ai, meaning love) and mentioned how she will be learning all about her heritage. A far cry from the original story's "I don't know if I like her" ahahaha.

This is one of my fave Little Sister stories. Aside from being one of the first handful I read, the sleepover excitement reminds me of my younger days. It's such a fun story, I love the little fight between Karen and Nancy, and Pamela's snobbishness is too much. ("I don't eat pizza, it gives me bad breath." Byeeee.)

[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was one of my favorites as a child, and it mostly holds up. This is my favorite thus far in my adult re-read. As an adult, I found it gigundoly creepy that Ricky Torres wanted to go to the slumber party to spy on his female classmates in their nightgowns and underwear. I truly enjoyed the extended conversation about which girls owned sleeping bags, which girls were borrowing sleeping bags from their parents or older sister, and which girls were borrowing a sleeping bag from Karen to use during the party. I was surprised that none of the girls had ever been to a sleepover or even knew about typical slumber party activities. I attended my first sleepover in first grade, and my sister was even younger when she attended her first slumber party.

Things to Note:
1) This book was the first introduction to Karen's enemy, Pamela Harding.
2) This book was the first in which Karen, Nancy, and Hannie declared themselves to be 'The Three Musketeers'.

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was really cute to re-read after all these years.

This one was actually an updated version, and it brought up something that has bothered me for years. Quite awhile ago, I stumbled across someone's Goodreads review after the Brewers adopted Emily Michelle, where they said that not only was this poor kid taken away from her home country and everyone spoke to her in a foreign language, but that they also changed her name. Since then, I've always wondered - what WAS Emily's original name?

And lo and behold, this updated version answered it for me - it was Ai. So now I know.

[Brandy Sharpe · Rating 3 out of 5]

So, I learned something from this.

I learned that the lack of contractions can make reading a story hard. I believe the phrases and lack of contractions had either to do with character voice or the target age group. But I struggled with it and it took me out.

I'm sure it's fine for its target age group, but... In the future, I'll be steering clear of this spin off of The Babysitters Club.

[Cherish Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

(3☆ Got something out of, but wouldn’t read again)
Overall, the story was written well. It was an easy read & I felt like a lot of girls would empathize with Karen & her feelings. However, I felt like there was a "mean-girl" mentality that was weaved in through the book. I did like how Karen & her friend made up & apologized. I thought that was a good example of repair.

[Elise · Rating 5 out of 5]

Karen had a sleepover party for all the girls in her class, including new kid Pamela. They ate pizza, watched a movie, made slice and bake cookies, listened to scary stories and attempted to raid the refrigerator at midnight.

[Mackenzie · Rating 4 out of 5]

So Cute

[Laura-Jane Barber · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love rereading books I read and reread as a child.

[Caitie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very cute, I probably would've liked this when I was a kid. It shows that life has consequences and fighting with your friends is never fun.

[Eliana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Karen definitely does NOT have a sleepover in this book. JUST KIDDING! Karen has a sleepover but a new girl is no fun! I liked this book because it was so good.

[Elena ♡ · Rating 3 out of 5]

read in shoppers drugmart in one sitting

[Brooke Lieder]

Read with Ruby!

[Leah · Rating 3 out of 5]

First appearance of The Three Musketeers and the term "best enemy."

[Jaclyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pamela Harding joins the series! And Hannie and Nancy actually show different personalities for once! (Or at least Nancy does, in that Karen thinks of how Nancy will know how to deal with Pamela.)

[Luisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's definitely directed to a very young crowd. I grew up reading the Babysitter Club books! To be honest I'm not a huge fan of this specific book. Karen is having a sleepover & they consider "The Wizard of Oz" a scary movie; their bed time was 10am. They had a snobby new student in their class that was invited to the sleepover & was learned to be a rude and boring girl! The sleepover went well over all & Karen was sure to make a secret packed with her two best friends by the end of the story! Charming but boring! Good for 8-10 year olds starting off reading chapter books! 107 pages & 20 chapters. Easy read with small in length chapters! I rate this book 2 stars ⭐️⭐️! I still enjoy Ann M. Martin & some other books she's written but this one lacked storyline & execution. In my opinion is wasn't done well enough for me!

[Luna · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's time for the annual child sacrifice, known as the 'Sleeping Over'. Genders get split down the middle. It is the girl's turn.

This year, the sacrifice will take place at Karen's father's house- also known as the Old Brewer Mansion. The warring Brewer tribe has been in chaos for years, and it is hoped that this sacrifice will appease the mighty elders, Watson and Lisa.

The initial sacrifice appears to be Nancy. She must put her head on the chopping block to save Karen and her family. However, a new challenger appears: Pamela. When Pamela sets to take the lead roll in the sacrifice, trouble strikes.

Who will be sacrificed?

Will the gods be appeased?

What's Buckethead going to do next?

[Amanda · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was again okay like most of the other books in this series. I don't remember it well if at all, I think there was something about making their own pizzas involved if I remember correctly. Anyway again I think young girls would like this book. Thats all for now.

[Sayo -bibliotequeish- · Rating 3 out of 5]

When you were too old for childrens books, but too young for The Baby Sitters Club.
Ann M. Martin really is a genius to piggy back on the success of The Baby Sitters Club.

After reading the little sisters series I remember feeling like a real adult opening up that first BSC book.

[Lara · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked that there was a birthday party and she invited a friend, but it wasn't really her friend. It was just someone new and she didn't really like her.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

In which Karen has a sleepover and gets into fights with her friends.

[Melenia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Loved these books as a child

[Fadumo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Karen reminded me of my first sleepover! Ghost stories were the best so was prank phone calls!!! * recommend this book to,any little girl especially a 7 year old!*

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this book we discover that Nancy is Jewish! I knew I liked that girl.